The mission of the Addison County Regional Planning Commission is: 1. To provide a forum for towns to discuss and resolve mutual concerns; 2. To provide assistance to towns with the planning process and information gathering; 3. To develop a regional plan; and 4. To be a central repository of planning information.

 

 

ACRPC FY04 Annual Work Plan

ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS

1. Maintain Commission office, staff, building, heat, equipment, etc.
2. Develop and administer a balanced budget.
3. Administer receipt and payment of funds and grants according to approved budget, and approved contractual agreements.
4. Schedule required audits. Provide reports to funding sources as required.
5. Provide annual staff evaluations.
6. Facilitate Commission, Executive Board and Committee meetings.
7. Make sure Commission meetings meet ADA requirements.
8. Work to improve media coverage of the Commission's informational programs, and of other Commission activities that are of general interest to the Region.
9. Continue to update Commission Bylaws and Personnel Policies as needed.
10. Continue to improve the Newsletter and update mailing list.
11. Continue to evaluate space, staffing, equipment needs in relation to efficiencies with Joint Partners.
12. Continue to build and improve the website and use technology to improve productivity, public outreach and record keeping.

SERVICES TO MEMBER MUNICIPALITIES

1. Provide on-call technical assistance to municipalities; including latest information on planning, zoning concepts, grants, emergency management and legislative changes.
2. Continue to work with municipalities to update town plans, zoning bylaws, subdivision regulations, flood plain regulations, emergency management preparedness, etc.
3. Inform municipalities of the data resources available through GIS services. Work on making maps available to the community.
4. Inform municipalities of statistical resources available.
5. Continue to encourage, support, and provide training for preparation and adoption of capital plans and budgets by municipalities.
6. Provide assistance to those municipalities interested in the formation of Development Review Boards.
7. Continue to make grant information and applications available, to write support letters where appropriate, and to assist in preparation of grant applications as time allows.
8. Provide education and training to boards and commissions concerning planning and bylaws. Encourage municipalities to adopt procedural bylaws and to continue to improve procedural practices.
9. Upon request, review the plan or plan amendments of a municipality for conformance with Chapter 117 and provide formal Commission approval of plans that conform.

Towns the Commission is already working with or whose plans will expire within a year: Addison, Cornwall, Bridport, Monkton, Ripton, Salisbury, Shoreham, Starksboro, Vergennes

10. Upon request, assist municipalities with reviews of Act 250/248 and other applications for State permits.
11. Work with municipalities on economic development options, especially related to infrastructure, to tax base expansion, to maintenance of village/town centers, and home occupation/cottage industry citing criteria.
12. Provide assistance, as appropriate, for E-911 service.
13. Provide administrative support to municipalities for grant administration at their request (funded by the grant).

INTRA AND INTER-REGIONAL COORDINATION

1. Encourage active membership by citizen interest groups that are Commission members. Fill any vacant seats.
2. Implement the FY04 Joint Projects Work Plan together with the Addison County Chamber of Commerce and the Addison County Economic Development Corporation.
3. Implement a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy ("CEDS") together with the Addison County Chamber of Commerce, the Addison County Economic Development Corporation and the Workforce Investment Board.
4. Continue to work with the Natural Resource Conservation Service (Soil Conservation Service), land trusts and Otter Creek Natural Resource Conservation District on computerized mapping, watershed planning and other shared concerns/programs.
5. Continue to work with the Addison County Economic Development Corporation and Addison County Chamber of Commerce to improve and maintain a GIs database of existing commercial/industrial sites and existing infrastructure.
6. Attend Vermont Association of Planning and Development Agencies (VAPDA) meetings and participate as actively as possible within the workload of the Commission.
7. Work with the Green Mountain National Forest in their planning process.
8. Improve relations with legislators.
9. Continue participation in George D. Aiken Resource, Conservation and Development Council.
10. Continue to work closely with state agencies, particularly the Agency of Commerce and Community Affairs, Agency of Natural Resources, Agency of Transportation, Department of Agriculture, and Department of Forest, Parks and Recreation.
11. Work with the Department of Forest, Parks and Recreation to help create the SCORP (State Outdoor Recreation Plan) for this region.
12. Archeological Resources Mapping: Work cooperatively with VCGI and the Division for Historic Preservation to provide existing data and GIs layers to help map archeological resources.

EVALUATION, TRAINING AND LIBRARY

1. Maintain new Commission member orientation. Continue to participate in the Vermont Education and Training Collaborative to improve access to the information; work to incorporate all town bylaws onto the RPC website. Support and assist in educating and training municipal officials, citizens and special interests regarding planning, plan adoption; bylaw adoption, administration and enforcement; public meetings and hearings process; grant and programmatic resources available to municipalities including the MOMS and TOECS.
2. Organize, index and update the library resources, both hard copy and electronic data.
3. Attend professional meetings, seminars, training sessions, etc. within the constraints of the approved budget and workload of the Commission.
4. Provide education and training opportunities for commission members and staff as appropriate within the budget.
5. Solicit performance evaluations from members of the organization and other professionals with whom we interact, pursuant to guidelines developed by VAPDA.

REGIONAL PLANNING

1. Revise/complete revisions to the following Plan elements:

a. Economy (Summer 2003 completion date)
b. Utilities/Facilities and Services (Spring 2004 completion date)
c. Substantial Regional Impact
d. Future Land Use (Update maps annually)
e. Transportation (Start Fall 2003)

2. Participate in Act 250/248 and other state permitting reviews.
3. Continue to serve as a Regional Service Center by:

a. Maintaining and updating databases and providing data through our website.
b. Improving ability to extract data in a timely manner and publish it in a professional looking format.
c. Serving as an associate of Vermont Center Geographic Information (VCGI).
d. Continuing as an affiliate of the State Data Center for receipt of US Census and state agency population, housing, economic and other similar data.
e. Maintaining the County Data Profile in association with the Joint Partners

4. Encourage and support multi-town cooperation on common issues.
5. Continue watershed planning and assistance.
6. Evaluate and, as appropriate, participate in the planning, siting, permitting and development of all conventional and alternative energy infrastructures.
7. Continue to work with municipalities, landowners, private non-profits, state agencies and legislators to maintain a working agricultural and forest economy in the Addison Region.
8. Maintain and enhance the countywide Natural Resources GIs Database designed to compliment existing land use coverages. Enlist town selectboards, planning commissions and conservation commissions in concert with state agencies to help develop the database.
9. Onsite Sewage: Work to continue research and support reform of the state's Onsite Sewage Rules. Provide support to municipalities to plan for land use changes stemming from any amended onsite rules.
10. Housing: Maintain the regional housing data and work to implement needs and opportunities identified and provide technical assistance to municipalities concerning fair housing law requirements.

TRANSPORTATION

1. Continue transportation work in the Region in concert with the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC).
2. Work to expand active membership by municipalities in the TAC.
3. Coordinate the activities of the TAC with the Commission and Executive Board monthly.
4. Evaluate "front of the book" capital program projects to determine conformance with the regional plan and report valuation findings to VTrans Program Development Director.
5. Maintain a current, prioritized Project List for use by AOT, legislators and others.
6. Complete and/or continue FY03 special projects (TEA-21 funds follow federal fiscal year -- Oct-Sept.) and begin work on FY04 projects, including (as further described in the TEA-21 Workplan):

a. Ongoing facilitation and evaluation of project compliance of State transportation projects in the region.
b. Support for multi-modal transportation planning including park-and-ride lots and transportation center(s)
c. Promote bicycle and pedestrian opportunities by implementing certain recommendations of the Addison County Region Bicycle and Pedestrian Study and by assisting the Lake Champlain Bikeways in developing additional theme loops.
d. Continued participation in and involvement with rail, air and transit planning.
e. Study and/or implement measures that address special problems (such as village corridor management in Vergennes and Middlebury and Bristol).
f. Conduct culvert and infrastructure inventories for additional Towns in the county.
g. Continue Access Management Segment Classifications along state Highways and coordinate such classification with Towns within the region.
h. Continue work inventorying unsignalized intersections for safety problems.

7. Help Ripton implement the design recommendations for Ripton village recommended in the Management Plan for RT 125 (a designated scenic highway).
8. Aid any town seeking designation under the Lake Champlain Byway program and work to promote strategies to implement Celebration Champlain.
9. Continue to inform municipalities of grant/funding opportunities, to write letters of support as appropriate and to assist in preparing applications, if requested.
10. Provide assistance to towns such as:

a. Road Surface Management Systems (RSMS) programs for road inventory and budgeting
b. Provide education, training and assistance in securing funding for projects.
c. Assist in resolving project bottlenecks, where appropriate.

11. Attend and participate in scoping, project definition and other AOT public meetings/work sessions in all towns.
12. Participate in Annual STIP/Capital Program Hearing.
13. Update, using Geographic Information System (GIs), a region-wide spreadsheet and related maps of all projects currently active at AOT, and their status.
14. Attend Transportation Planning Initiative (TPI) meetings and other Agency of Transportation/Federal Highway Administration/Local Roads or academic training sessions.
15. Continue to work with Addison County Transit Resources to support public transit consistent with their Short Range Transit Plan, and our Regional Plan.
16. Work to keep transportation data current and in a form usable by member municipalities.
17. Support municipal implementation of Codes and Bridge Standards.
18. Annually readopt the AOT Procurement Self Certification System.
19. Conduct at least one road safety audit review in the region in conjunction with VTrans personnel.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PLANNING

1. Serve as local coordinators and points of contact for Vermont Emergency Management, attend State emergency management meetings as required and fulfill all other obligations stemming from the Emergency Management Planning Grant contract with Vermont Emergency Management.
2. Coordinate and support mitigation efforts through Project Impact and the creation, adoption and implementation of a county and comprehensive town all-hazard plans.
3. Work with LEPC #8 to develop, maintain, and exercise Hazardous Materials Emergency Plans on Municipal and County levels as well as provide staff support to the LEPC.
4. Provide a working hours source for public Haz-Mat information.
5. Work to promote county and municipal disaster preparedness through development and maintenance of Rapid Response Plans and Emergency Operations Plans for all hazards.
6. Coordinate/ schedule appropriate training events.
7. Develop disaster awareness through outreach to the community.
8. Assist local school districts in development and maintenance of Disaster Plans.
9. Provide emergency services grant application assistance where requested.